Metal of a Hedgehog
by PlayISDF
Summary: When Metal Sonic returns different since the last time Sonic and Metal fought, bringing down a series of tragic events in it's wake, can Sonic and his friends defeat Metal once more? -- First fanfic
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

_Um...hi! This is my first fanfic ever so I really hope you enjoy it. That might be a little hard though, my writing definitely isn't the greatest, English has to be my worst subject so there isn't really any exciting techniques used or anything in this heheheh. But that's okay, I'd rather try to tell a good story with bad writing then a bad story with good writing. Still I hope you can enjoy this story that I'm trying to tell! Oh right, disclaimer I spose. Sonic and all that doesn't belong to me but, this story is of my own creation. Okay, on with the story!_

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_**Chapter One - Prologue**_

It was a dark and stormy night as Sonic laid up against a tree just outside of the hideout that he and his comrades were forced to use, unable to sleep as he laid there, lost in thought, thinking about all the events that had unfolded since everything changed as he stared at the storm clouds. Typically storms were somewhat common around this time of year but tonight's storm was worse than usual.

It had been four years since the downfall of the Eggman Empire. Having been defeated time and time again by Sonic and his friends, Eggman had returned once more to his greatest creation: Metal Sonic, in hopes that finally he would defeat Sonic, his archenemy and the one constant that had always foiled his plans of world domination and the creation of Eggman Land.

By copying all of Eggman's knowledge and placing it in Metal Sonic via a merging of mind and machine, Eggman had hoped that Metal Sonic would be able to devise a way to take Sonic down in a way he had not considered. The process had worked, but only far too well. Eggman's emotions were also transferred in the process. To a program, feelings mean nothing. But Metal Sonic could see how feelings could be used to win against Sonic. With it's calculating and cold AI programming combined with Eggman's knowledge of feelings, Metal Sonic created a plan. A plan that would shatter Sonic, his resolve, and his chance of victory.

Sitting there by himself, tilting his head back, Sonic wondered about his current situation.

"Will all this pay off...will we ever win?" he quietly said under his breath. "Things have really gone to hell with Metal Sonic around and Eggman nowhere to be seen," he continued to say quietly to himself while a giant lighting strike arced across the stormy night sky. The noise generated by it was so loud and the lighting strike itself so bright and big that it was as if the world itself was angry about the abuse it had received in recent times.

In the time after the creation of the "new" Metal Sonic, things had gone downhill. The first act of Metal Sonic was to get rid of Eggman, a hindrance to his mission. Although Metal Sonic was going to kill Eggman since it was the most efficient way to eliminate him, Eggman used his talent for running away to disappear before Metal Sonic could take him out. Before disappearing completely, Eggman vowed that one day he would return to make Metal Sonic pay for such a betrayal against it's master.

From there Metal Sonic had been able to take over the majority of the world in an extremely short amount of time. He had created a robotic army that was vastly superior to Eggman's typical robots using Eggman's very own machine lines forcing a retreat of Sonic and his friends. With the majority of the world falling to Metal Sonic's control, there were few places left where anybody could be safe.

Luckily, Knuckles knew of a place for them. He had found a secret location deep within a cave that served as an alternate location to house the Master Emerald in case something went wrong. Surrounded by dense forest and swamp land with a rocky landscape in various places made it a formidable hiding location. The cave itself had paths splitting off everywhere and it was easy to get lost in. Anybody who didn't know the route through the forest and cave could easily meet their end. The area was known as one of the most dangerous locations on the planet due to all the lethal plants and wildlife in the area and the highly unstable terrain.

After regrouping from Metal Sonic's initial assault upon the world, Sonic and his comrades had resisted with the people of the world as armies fought back in a unified defence against Metal Sonic's robotic armies. With the robotic army easily wiping out the defence without much effort however, it soon became painfully obvious that it was all in vain. Anybody who resisted typically died on the spot. They were the lucky ones, as the ones captured by Metal Sonic became subjected to suffering and intense torture until they either submitted to his rule, or perished. And to make matters worse, in the chaos that followed the unified defence's defeat, the Chaos Emeralds had fallen into Metal Sonic's hands and the Master Emerald was all but lost with it's destruction.

Unable to get into the Hidden Palace where the emerald sat on Angel Island, Metal Sonic had turned to the one thing that could take it out no matter what. With the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds powering it, the Eclipse Cannon was easily able to destroy the Master Emerald. Although the Eclipse Cannon was meant to be able to destroy entire planets when used with the seven Chaos Emeralds, Metal Sonic altered it to fire a highly concentrated beam that would pierce only up to the magma under the crust of the planet but destroy anything in the way before it hit the magma.

The result was the destruction of Angel Island and the beautiful ocean which Angel Island once floated above, turned to a hellish wasteland as the ocean within a 200km range was vaporized and the magma that once sat under the planet's crust rushed out to take the ocean's place. As the two met, the lava cooled and created a new landscape that left an ocean circling the blast zone and the remaining lava creating a giant hellish lake within the blast zone. The two were separated via a wall of cooled lava. Knuckles was crushed that he was unable to save the Master Emerald as he was helping a group of people escape one of Metal Sonic's patrols at the time, but knew that the least he could do now was do what he could to make up for failing his duty since there was not a piece of the Master Emerald left.

Sonic closed his eyes and let out the shallow breath he had been holding. Screams of a girl played over in his head.

_"Sonic! Please, help me!"_ the girl screamed. Sonic tensed and held his eyes closed tighter. _"Help me...help me!_" she screamed again. The night began to play in Sonic's mind, a night not unlike the night tonight. The worst for Sonic had only come after they began their resistance.

In a desperate attempt to recover the Chaos Emeralds in hopes of using their power to stop Metal Sonic, a handful of resistance members were selected to be a part of a dangerous raid on Metal Sonic's outpost, the Ark. Having found a forgotten Ark transporter created by Gerald Robotnik in case something went wrong, they developed a plan that would hopefully slow Metal Sonic down. The Ark transporter however was in horrible shape and had no power left in it but the group was able to transport onto the Ark in secret using the energy of a lighting storm to charge the transporter for one final use before it gave out.

Moving as swiftly as possible, the group split up into their designated teams to complete the missions they had.

Tails and Shadow were to Chaos Control around via use of a fake Chaos Emerald in attempts to sabotage enough of the Ark's reactors and critical support structures to at the very least cripple it, if not destroy it.

Blaze and Silver were tasked with making the Eclipse Cannon inoperable in case the Ark was not destroyed. Omega was to go solo and gather any intelligence in the computers it could.

Knuckles and Rouge were to create a big distraction the very second any of the teams were detected in hopes they could complete their missions and get out safely.

Sonic and Amy were left with the biggest mission, recovery of the Chaos Emeralds. Racing to the control room as fast as they could manage, they remained undetected. If any patrols were encountered that couldn't be avoided, another fake Chaos Emerald was used by Sonic to Chaos Control both him and Amy past the patrols. It worked well right up till when they finally reached the control room.

Unknowingly, Metal Sonic had actually laid a trap so he could finally complete his plan. The rest of the teams were jumped by the robotic forces of Metal Sonic before they could do too much, with the exception of Sonic and Amy. As Sonic and Amy were about to begin removing the emeralds, Metal Sonic came flying in and pinned Amy up against the Chaos Emerald control panel with his right arm.

"Sonic! Please, help me!" she screamed.

"Hang on Amy! I'm coming!" he shouted back.

"Wrong Sonic, you shall not," Metal Sonic said in his cold voice as he raised his left arm at Sonic.  
Before Sonic could even react he was hit with an energy blast that knocked him up against the wall and left him unable to move.

"Ugh, can't move," Sonic said as he struggled against the effects of the attack. "Just wait Amy, I'll be up soon," he continued to say weakly.

"Not likely," Metal Sonic countered. "Now you shall watch as she ceases to be," Metal Sonic continued as he began to press his left arm up against Amy's head.

"What are you doing Metal? No, you wouldn't dare! We might be rivals, enemies, but there are lines we never cross!" he shouted, fear creeping into his voice.

"That is where your wrong," he replied, as some form of energy started being channeled into Metal Sonic's left arm from the Chaos Emeralds. As the charge grew stronger and stronger, intense energy began circling into his arm. "This is the end hedgehog!".

Flying back, he discharged the energy at Amy all at once while she was still sitting up against the wall, being held there by the Chaos Emerald's energy itself.

"Help me...help me!" Amy screamed again.

"Noooooooo, Amy!!" is all Sonic could shout out, powerless but to watch, still under the effects of the energy blast he was hit with as Amy, disappeared right before his eyes in a blinding flash of light. When it passed, there was nothing. Not a trace.

Still lying up against the tree, but now shaking from remembering that tragic night, Sonic started to cry. As he wept, he slowly said with pain in his voice "Amy...can you ever forgive me? I didn't protect you, the one who I cared for the most. The one I loved with all my heart."

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_And there you have it, one evil per say Metal Sonic, one messed up world, one Amy now gone, and one messed up heartbroken Sonic. Will things get better? Will there be action? Will anyone actually like this story!? Find out in the next chapter! (Yeah okay, I watched a little too much Dragonball Z lately XD) The next chapter will be uploaded soon...I wrote the majority of it today and I've got to write a little more and do some touch up stuff and it should be up in a day or two I suppose. By the way, I know I suck with my paragraphs, so please don't hound me about it too much. A few suggestions are fine but pleeeaase don't hound me too much about it.  
_


	2. Chapter 2: Shatter

_**Chapter Two - Shatter**_

"Sonic, hey Sonic," a voice called out.

"Sonic, come on Sonic," the voice called again, a little louder this time.

"Sonic wake up!" the voice yelled. Sonic now opened his eyes and looked around. As he did he saw Tails standing in front of him, smiling at him, and that he was still outside in the same place he was during the storm, up against the tree.

"Don't tell me you slept out here again Sonic, we've got the hideout to sleep in for a reason," he said. It seemed like it was the middle of the morning going by how high the sun was in the sky.

"Come on Sonic, get up already," Tails said again.

"Why? I'm perfectly fine sitting here," Sonic replied. "It's not like we're gonna do anything today."

"Sonic, have you forgotten? We're going to go swipe some parts from an old base of Eggman's that he abandoned many years ago, I need some things if we're going to keep powering the hideout's shielding as well as keep our connection to the satellite," he replied, full of his usual enthusiasm.

"You should know after how many times I've told you Sonic, the shield is very important if we wish to remain undetected". Sonic sighed, he knew now that Tails would remind him again exactly why they were both important and he knew that Tails wouldn't stop even if he told him to. Eventually Tails would remind him again and he wouldn't pay attention for the hundredth time so it was probably better to get the lecture over now.

"You see Sonic, the shield hides our life signs readings because of the special chip I implanted in everyone, the shield and the chip work together to hide us from Metal Sonic's prying eyes." Sonic yawned and nodded hoping that Tails would just hurry up and get it over with.

"Of course that by itself doesn't ensure that we remain undetected hence why the shield also acts like an electromagnetic shield and stops all electrical signals, radio waves, and the like from leaving the shield but it's especially calibrated so such signals will enter the shield, which is why our satellite is rather important."

"Yes Tails, I get it," Sonic replied, feeling completely bored by the lecture.

"You see Sonic, our satellite is our connection to the outside world, but we can't communicate back with it through our shield, which is why we have a small antenna with another shield around it just outside of our own but with the reverse effect so signals can leave, but not enter." he continued.

"With the satellite able to send information through the hideout's shield, we can receive, and with the antenna, we can send without getting detected," he said, still enthusiastic despite how he had told Sonic about it so many times.

"That's why we need to go get a new generator before the old one breaks down on us, I don't think I'd be able to fix it this time around and we can't stay safe with the shield offline," Tails continued on.

"At least Metal Sonic hasn't noticed that the satellite is active, it still looks like a broken scrap-heap up there!" he said, still smiling as he explained.

"Okay Tails I get it, but you don't need me for that," Sonic replied.

"But Sonic, come on! You need to do something, you haven't helped us in so long!" Tails exclaimed.

"Your doing fine without me helping much and besides, I'd rather just be left alone," Sonic quietly replied.

"Okay Sonic...if that's what you want," Tails replied, all his enthusiasm now gone. Sonic again got himself comfortable up against the tree and closed his eyes as Tails walked off. He'd much rather just be left alone but Tails always checked up on him, just to make sure nothing major happened to him, and to double check that he didn't do anything rash, like right after Amy disappeared.

_-Flashback-_

Sonic laid up against the wall where he'd been knocked to after the energy blast had hit him, his heart completely shattered at the sight of seeing Amy disappear and having not a trace remain. Metal Sonic hovered in the air and laughed at the sight of Sonic. His plan had worked perfectly. Without Amy, Sonic was crushed and alone. As he had learned when his program and Eggman's mind merged, although Sonic had friends with him that would continue to stand by him, without the person he loved the most, he would not be the same Sonic that always saved the day. His will would be for the most part, gone, and he would put up no real resistance to it as it would complete it's mission and eliminate Sonic. Sonic sat there, in tears, as he heard the voice of the murderer.

"Sonic, now it is your turn, now you will join the hedgehog so don't feel so bad, you'll be together again soon, or so you would if such a thing as the afterlife was actually possible," Metal Sonic said, and then laughed. Sonic raised his head, his eyes still full of tears, looking at the robot that took the most important person in his life away from him.

"_This robot, no, this thing, this evil thing..._" Sonic thought to himself. "_...This evil thing...the thing that took Amy away...the thing that took her away from me without any mercy at all...I hate it, I completely hate it!_" Sonic hung his head. "I'll kill it, I'll kill it, KILL IT!!" he screamed out.

Metal Sonic laughed some more at this outburst. "To think, you could destroy me? No, you could never. With Eggman's knowledge I was able to upgrade myself in ways he could never have thought of and now I am stronger then I ever was," he proudly stated to Sonic.

Sonic, with tears streaming out of his eyes, continued to say "Kill it, kill it, kill it," as he got up.

Metal Sonic replied "You have completely lost your sanity it appears, you can not destroy me yet you think you can 'kill me'? It doesn't matter though, you will die regardless." Metal Sonic charged at Sonic, trying to pin him back up against the wall. He hit Sonic, flying at full speed, yet Sonic blocked with his right arm, stopping Metal Sonic completely. "Impossible!" Metal Sonic exclaimed.

"Kill it..." is all Sonic could reply as he looked up at Metal Sonic, going completely black in the process and now possessing no iris or pupil in either eye. Metal Sonic looked at the Chaos Emeralds and understood what was going on. Sonic had drawn on the nearby Chaos Emeralds with so much hate and anger, instead of turning into the Super Sonic that Metal Sonic was used to, he had turned into the dark version of it, Dark Super Sonic.

He had learned about it from Eggman's memory. Although he had not seen what Dark Super Sonic was capable of, he knew that such a form in the hands of Sonic who was so familiar with using the Chaos Emeralds power within himself, that it could only lead to immense destruction.

Dark Super Sonic, a being so full of hate began to direct it at the one who had taken it all away. He grabbed Metal Sonic's left arm, and began to pump it full of his own dark energy. As Metal Sonic tried to hit him with his other arm, Dark Super Sonic destroyed it with nothing but a lighting fast punch.

"What are you doing Sonic? What is this energy you are loading into my arm's capacitors?" Metal Sonic asked quickly, his computer eyes and arm diagnostics noticing that such energy could destroy more then just him.

"**You are going to perish Metal Sonic, just like you did to Amy. This will kill me as well, but I don't care. I don't care what the cost is, as long as you die,**" Dark Super Sonic replied in an icy tone. With the energy beginning to max out his capacitors, Metal Sonic did his best to try and pull away but to no avail.

Shadow, who had detected the presence of the negative Chaos energy being used had informed everyone else and at this point Omega, Knuckles and Rouge were attempting to get off the Ark. They weren't close enough to help with the situation and it remained dangerous for them to keep fighting off patrols until the others were ready to escape.

Everyone knew what the Chaos Emerald's energy was capable of when used negatively and only Shadow and Silver had a chance to stop the energy before it advanced too far. Blaze also could help but she was not so good with using the Chaos Emeralds when compared with Silver, Shadow, and Sonic. The two groups were also the only ones who could use Chaos Control and get near the control room fast enough. Silver also had a fake emerald just in case something happened and he and Blaze had to get out quickly. Tails wanted to come because he couldn't just abandon his best friend, and he couldn't reach an Ark transporter in time anyway.

Back in the control room, things appeared grim for Metal Sonic. Computing it's options quickly, it came to the conclusion that escape was the best possible choice but it was unable to escape Dark Super Sonic's grasp. Any reinforcements would be destroyed before they could do much and it seemed that it could not detach his left arm, most likely because the dark energy was locking it's arm in place. Although escape seemed to be the best option, it also appeared to be impossible.

Just then Silver, Blaze, Shadow, and Tails arrived and saw what was happening.

"What's going on? Is that..." Silver said with much confusion in his voice.

"...No way it can't be!" Blaze added.

"Sonic!" Tails yelled out.

"**Your time is nearing Metal, once this arm of yours goes off, the entire Ark will be obliterated along with you, and me,**" Sonic coldly said, a grin appearing on his face, ignoring the others completely.

"Sonic has lost his mind, we have no choice, we must escape now or we will perish," Shadow calmly said, eyes widened at the sight but none the less, still calm.

"Wait, where's Amy?" Blaze said.

"Sonic wouldn't have left her somewhere..." Silver replied.

"Wait! That...has to be it, Amy not around, and Dark Super Sonic here with nothing but the will to destroy Metal...Amy must have...passed on..." Tails said, sounding more and more depressed as the sentence left his mouth.

"No way..." Silver said slowly, saddened by the news.

"We don't have time to be sorry, Amy was a good person but we need to get off the Ark now or we will end up like her," Shadow replied.

"The only way out is Chaos Control but even with the fake emeralds we wouldn't make it in time," Blaze countered.

"That's the easy part, we've got seven Chaos Emeralds over there to use!" Silver replied.

"Getting past Sonic won't be easy though, I'm sure he would want nobody interfering with his fight, which means we need a distraction," Shadow said. "Tails, I need you to distract Sonic long enough for Silver to use his Psychokinesis to bring the emeralds over here at which point I'll use them to Chaos Control us out of here," he said as he looked at Tails.

"I don't like this at all, distracting Sonic, going against him just feels so wrong, but I need to help Sonic by saving him from himself, so I'll do it," Tails replied. He slowly approached Sonic, reluctantly, looking at him while black energy started to spill out from Metal Sonic's arm.

"Sonic? Come on Sonic we need to go, you don't need to kill yourself to take out Metal Sonic," he said, in a sympathetic tone. Sonic paid no attention and continued to focus on Metal Sonic, the energy now slowly arcing out of the cannon and wrapping itself in a ball far above everyone's heads.

"Is this really how you want things to end? You, killing everyone on the Ark just for revenge?" Tails continued, sadness starting to creep into his voice as the dark energy ball started getting bigger and bigger very quickly.

"Do you really think...this is what Amy would want?" Tails said, tears now in his eyes. Dark Super Sonic now looked at Tails, with a look of sadness and sorrow on his face.

All of a sudden, Metal Sonic laughed and said, "Wrong move Sonic" as all the energy left his cannon and was sucked into the dark energy ball, which began fluctuating, hissing and screeching wildly. Metal Sonic was then finally able to disconnect his arm and charged at Tails, hoping to take Tails out in front of Sonic's eyes as well.

Then, from behind Tails, all of a sudden somebody yelled out "Chaos Control!" and green light began to swallow everyone up, Metal Sonic included.

The dark energy ball finally reached critical mass and exploded, purple and black bits of energy flying everywhere, destroying everything in it's path till it had surrounded the Ark completely, then all of a sudden a white and black light emerged from the center of the Ark, swallowing it completely. After the light subsided, there was no trace of the Ark left.

"Ugh! That landing could use some work," Blaze said with pain in her voice. She was on the ground after Chaos Control teleported her off the Ark. As she got up, she noticed that they were in a city of some kind, seemingly empty and in ruin. As she looked around, she noticed that Dark Super Sonic was still standing with Shadow and Silver on either side of him and Tails was on the ground like she was. There seemed to be no trace of Metal Sonic, or the Chaos Emeralds. "Great, after all that work, we've lost the Chaos Emeralds again, and Metal Sonic," she said quietly, and then sighed.

Silver and Shadow, held up both of the fake Chaos Emeralds next to Dark Super Sonic, who appeared to be stunned. Silver and Shadow both yelled out in unison, "Chaos Drain!" and all of a sudden, black energy started to leave Dark Super Sonic's body. Sonic turned back to his usual blue, and the back to black, and then blue again, a sign that he was trying to resist having his power drained. Finally, he stayed blue, and Sonic fell to the ground, exhausted, both physically and mentally.

"Man, that took a lot out of me," panted Silver.

"Who knew he would have so much power," Shadow replied, also panting. Then the fake Chaos Emeralds all of a sudden shattered, like glass.

"I guess it was too much for the fake emeralds to handle," said Tails, now on his feet.

"Come on, we need to get out of here and back to the hideout, Knuckles, Rouge and Omega are probably worried about us," Blaze said, her voice sounding a little depressed that the mission was mostly a success, but at a high cost.

"Alright, Shadow, help me lift Sonic up would you? I don't either of us can use Chaos Control so we'll have to carry him," said Silver, sounding exhausted. Shadow and Silver both picked up Sonic, putting one of his arms over their backs, and they walked off towards a hidden tunnel nearby which would get them back close to the hideout, as Blaze walked behind and Tails slowly flew ahead to scout the way back home.

_-End Flashback-_

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_And there you have it, the second chapter. Shouldn't be too much more as far as flashbacks and backstory goes and stuff. At this point everyone should understand generally how things are. Next chapter we'll be looking at what's currently going on, and we'll go from there!_


	3. Chapter 3: Revival

_**Chapter Three - Revival**_

It was late in the afternoon by the time Tails and Blaze got close to Eggman's old abandoned base. One of the reasons why Eggman had picked the location for the base was because it was nearly impossible to reach. It lay up high surrounded by mountains and snow making a trip in by air rather treacherous. The only way somebody could get in was from the base of a canyon that led up to it.

The canyon itself typically had small amounts of water flowing through it as the only water that would flow through it was melted snow and not much melted on a normal day. However, with the big storm that was around the night before, today was not a normal day. With the heavy rain that had hit the mountains from the storm, the canyon had a lot of water rushing through it which gave Blaze a lot of trouble. Tails didn't have as much trouble since he could make short hops through the canyon with his tails. All he had to do was fly from point to point. Blaze on the other hand typically had to run up sides of the wall, jump to certain rocks sticking up from the water, and on occasion, run across the water to the other side of the canyon before she either sank into the water or the water flow pushed her too far downstream. They had been at this for a good two hours and Blaze was absolutely exhausted with Tails slowly tiring as well.

"Tails, just how much further till we get to this base? Surely it has to be close," said Blaze, noticeably warn out from the way she was panting.

"Not too far, it's just up a little further at the start of the canyon," replied Tails.

"Why don't you fly ahead and get started without me, I'll be up there soon but first I need to catch my breath," she said, now sitting on one of the rocks sticking out of the water.

"Okay then, I'll see you soon," he said with his usual enthusiasm, lifting off and heading up further.

"I wonder what Sonic's doing," he continued, now talking to himself.

"He hasn't been the same since Amy was taken from him, it's been awhile now but he's still been so unmotivated to do anything and so unwilling to talk about what happened". Tails scanned around quickly checking for any traps before continuing in his talk to himself.

"He doesn't even go on runs anymore! Metal Sonic must have really affected him," he quitely continued, a tone of sadness in his voice. After a few minutes the base finally came into sight.

"Ah the base! Finally!" he exclaimed. At the start of the canyon was a rock wall with an elevator and a little mini dock up against it with water coming in from the right side of the canyon and a big mountain on the left. Landing on the dock, he started to walk towards the elevator when suddenly loud machine gun fire was heard, and the bullets heading towards him! Although Tails was not as fast as Sonic, he was still quick enough to dodge the fire and fly up and towards the gun that had come out of the rock wall and destroy it with a thrown dummy ring.

Tails was not as strong as Knuckles when it came to punches or Rouge when it came to kicks so Tails relied on technology to destroy enemies. One such device was the dummy ring. He carried a number of these ring with him that had a powerful electrical charge running through them that activated after they were thrown. After they hit an object and typically destroyed it or at least deactivated it, they returned to him via a special magnet that only attracted the dummy rings back to him and turned them off. With this, Tails in a way had created an electrical boomerang of sorts.

Landing back at the dock, he walked into the elevator and hit the red button that Eggman seemed so fond of using for everything. The old elevator stirred and shook until it finally started moving up into the base. As it reached the top, Tails could see the state the base was in. It seemed to be in rather good shape except for some reason some of the walls had been ripped up along with some of consoles being busted. There also seemed to be bits of metal lying on the floor. Curious as to why the base was like this, he pressed on cautiously. As he walked from room to room and through the corridors, Tails noticed that the base was in worse condition then he had originally thought. Entire rooms seemed to have collapsed and those that weren't, seemed to be littered with destroyed equipment.

As he continued forward looking for anything, he noticed a corridor and another elevator. Heading into it and activating it, the elevator took him deeper into the base, plunging him down a few hundred meters, stopping at a room that seemed to have absolutely nothing in it. Knowing Eggman better then to have empty rooms for no reason, Tails readied his dummy rings. Slowly walking out on alert for anything fishy, it wasn't till he got to the middle of the room that the defenses came alive with multiple turrets and mechs coming out of the walls and firing at him. Expecting that this would happen, Tails flew off showing his speed. Sonic could move faster then Tails but when he flew, he easily could out maneuver anything Eggman had built. Flying quickly around the room with machine gun fire heading his way, Tails dropped a dummy ring bomb in the middle of the room and it exploded with dozens of dummy rings going all over the room destroying all of the defenses.

Although they were very small, the dummy ring bombs could hold 36 dummy rings and they were very powerful in a sea of enemies. Using such bombs were dangerous though, if allies were within the group then they could easily be hurt as well. Tails was protected since the magnet repelled the rings when a bomb was used so they wouldn't get close to him, but his friends didn't have magnets on them. Bringing out a spare, empty bomb, Tails collected the rings in it and moved to the door at the end of the room. Entering it, he saw the control room, a little run down but none the less operational. Moving to one of the computers he began to access any data that was still on the hard drives. Only one file remained, a log of some sort.

It read:  
"_Day 148._"  
"_Today I have begun to see results of my work. My project which I have named '**Kali**', a name meaning black and signifying destruction, a name I felt fitting, has finally begun to show itself as a promising and dangerous creation. It's time grows near when I shall unleash it but for now..._"

Suddenly the file crashed and the computer rebooted into "EGGDOS".

"**EGG-PUTER:\\EGGDOS LOADED**"  
"**EGG-PUTER:\\DATA CORRUPTION**"  
"**EGG-PUTER:\\ATTEMPTING TO RETRIEVE CORRUPTED SECTORS**"  
"**EGG-PUTER:\\FAILURE**"  
"**EGG-PUTER:\\ATTEMPTING TO RETRIEVE SECONDARY BACKUP**"  
"**EGG-PUTER:\\FAILURE**"  
"**EGG-PUTER:\\DESTROYING CORRUPTED SECTORS**"  
"**EGG-PUTER:\\COMPLETE"**  
"**EGG-PUTER:\\END OF FILE.**"

Puzzled, Tails ran though the hard drive once more to see if there was any more trace of this "_Kali_" hoping that there still might be some remains of the data but there was nothing. Deciding that there was nothing to do, Tails got up and entered a nearby corridor which lead to a room. The power room, for some reason seemed to be almost in perfect condition.

"_It doesn't make any sense,_" Tails thought.

"_Why would the entire base be in ruins except for this one room and the control room? And not only that but this entire room is nearly in perfect condition, it doesn't make any sense, why would Eggman preserve this room above all others? Was he hiding something like this 'Kali' or just wanted to make sure that he had a spare power source in case he needed it for some reason?_" continued Tails.

"It doesn't matter now, we need this power source or Metal Sonic will be able to detect us," he said to himself. He walked slowly up to the pedestal up against the wall that contained a blue glowing orb surrounded by a crystal box with bumps and dents in it. As he reached out his hands to pick it up, a siren came to life loudly sounding as numerous machine guns and two defense robots came out of the walls. Freezing from fear, he knew he was about to perish, when suddenly, a blur came flying through the entrance and became a fire tornado hitting all the enemies in an amazing show of speed. Blaze had come to Tails' rescue!

"You know Tails, you should take better care of yourself, these days you can't rely on people to save you all the time, especially Sonic and the way he currently is," Blaze said, letting it sink in for a few seconds. "Luckily for you, you've got me around," she continued.

"Thank you Blaze, I really thought I was done for then," he replied.

"Did you find what we need?" She said, back to the point of the mission.

"Not everything, I was really hoping we'd find some spare parts lying around so I could really fix up the shield but this place is completely wrecked, however we got ourselves a new power source and I can hopefully salvage some pieces from those two mechs you destroyed." he said, also focused back on the mission.

"Well get to it Tails, it's going to get dark soon and the sooner we can get back, the better." Tails walked up and removed the power source, and started looking through the broken mechs in hopes of finding at least something repairable to take back and use.

Unknowingly, at that time in a hidden part of the base, a stasis pod deactivated due to losing it's main power source and secondary power kicked in. With not much power left in secondary, it began to revive what lay within. As the pod opened up, a figure emerged, dark orange horizontally on one half of the body and black on the other. The figure also had dark green patterns engraved all over the body. "My resurrection has finally come! Now it is time to begin." And the figure began to laugh.

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_Well, isn't this weird! We've got some new character coming out! Could it be this Kali? Something else? A friend or foe!? A giant monster rabbit!!!!!???? Okay so that last one is a little unlikely but you'll just have to wait and see won't you! Feel free to leave some reviews. I enjoy reviews! It lets me know if I'm doing well or badly or whatever and I would love some more feedback. You can make suggestions if you wish, and rest assured I'll read everything, but you might want to keep in mind that I might not be able to use it depending on how the story goes. I might be able to use a lot of suggestions, I might be able to use none, so don't take it personally if you make one and I don't use it. Try to avoid relationship requests so much though. I don't mind them but I only really have plans for Tails. I could toss say a Knuckles/Rouge relationship in for instance but I really don't think it would add to the story so I'd like to avoid that. You never know though, it could happen, as unlikely as it is for me to do at the moment, but we'll just have to wait and see. Stay tuned for the next chapter of Metal of a Hedgehog!_


	4. Chapter 4: Discovery

_**Chapter Four - Discovery**_

It had turned out that getting to Eggman's old base was hard. Leaving it and getting back to the hideout was proving harder. It was night time when Tails and Blaze made their exit from the base with a few small parts and the power source, or "Nexus generator", as Tails had dubbed it in tow.

The name had come to be from how the generator operated. The blue orb inside the box periodically went through a collapse and binding phase. The collapse phase destabilized the orb which filled the box with energy that looked like blue ribbons flying and circling around majestically which at the same time, released a tremendous amount of raw power. If this was allowed to continue though, the generator could potentially explode and would leave complete destruction in it's wake. However, the center of the orb had a small clear object in it. It was difficult to tell what it was exactly as it seemed to change form as the collapse phase advanced. When the generator reached the safety point, the object chained the ribbons back onto itself and molded it back into the form of the blue orb. Tails theorized that the box acted as a massive capacitor for the energy giving a constant stream of power in between phases, while also acting as a shield from outside interference. He had no idea how Eggman was able to create something like this, even for Eggman's IQ of 300, this was an incredible device. For Blaze though, the technical details weren't of interest. She found the generator absolutely beautiful, especially in it's collapse phase with the energy ribbons flying around.

She knew though that she had no time to admire the generator and was trying to get herself and Tails back as soon as possible. Getting back down through the canyon wasn't too difficult. However, getting through the thick forest surrounding the hideout was proving to be a challenge. It was a huge forest and it would only become more dangerous as they neared the hideout. They had slowly and carefully been working their way through the forest for hours at this point and it was easily midnight, or later. Blaze was in the lead as her eyes were perfect for this time of night with Tails slowly moving behind making sure not to drop the box he was carrying. He had found a proper box for the generator at Eggman's old base. The parts themselves were very small so he was able to slip them into his fur for safe keeping. As they crept slowly, the forest was very quiet. No sounds were heard and nothing seemed to move. Suddenly, Blaze froze which prompted the fox to do the same. He could hear why Blaze had stopped, there sounded like something big was moving passed the bushes ahead. He listened, quietly, waiting for any sign of danger.

"_RRRR_**ROOO**_OOOO_**OOOO**_AAAA_**AAAA**_AARR_**RRRR**_RRRR_**!!**_!!_"

Tails jumped and clutched onto Blaze tightly, wrapping his arms around her waist, scared out of his mind from the earth shattering roar that could still be heard echoing through the night. "_Give me one of Metal Sonic's machines any day over this!_" he thought, shaking as the sounds of a fight could be heard.

"Don't make any loud noises or anything okay Tails? We don't want them to come this way if we can help it," Blaze whispered to the fox glued to her. "It'll be alright kid," she continued, ready to jump at anything that moved, fox on her or not.

The sound of claws hitting one another was loud, easily able to be heard. A few growls came from whatever it was that was up ahead and it sounded like they were feral beasts from hell itself. Then more claw on claw noise, then finally the sound of meat tearing and being ripped to shreds.

"**AAAAA**_GGGGGggggghhhhhhhhhh..."_ , the sound of the fight subsided. A few seconds passed.

"I-Is it, over...Blaze?" whimpered Tails.

"_RRRR_**ROOO**_OOOO_**OOOO**_AAAA_**AAAA**_AARR_**RRRR**_RRRR_**!!**_!!_"

Tails held Blaze as tight as he could, tears in his eyes from how frightened he was as the roar continued to echo through the forest. It slowly disappeared. One minute passed, then two, then three. Finally, Blaze turned to face the clinging fox.

"It's okay Tails, you can relax now, whatever that was is gone," she said in a calming, sympathetic voice. "I know of a cave nearby that we can use for shelter, so we'll head there now okay?"

Tails nodded, then opened his mouth, hesitant to say anything. After a few moments, he finally asked the question he really didn't know if he would like an answer for. "Blaze...is there...anything else in the forest like that?" he asked quietly, still shaking.

"Don't worry Tails, I doubt it," she said with that same voice, her eyes connected to his. "But if there is, I promise that I won't allow it to harm you," she replied with a big warm smile.

Tails paused for a moment, staring at her face. "_Such a warm smile,_" he thought. "_I wonder why she hides it so much._"

It made Tails feel safe and he let go of Blaze slowly. She turned around and led the fox slowly away from the scene of the nearby fight. Following her he realized that underneath the mask she hid her feelings with, she acted like a big sister, and for the first time in a long time since Sonic changed, he felt like he was connected to someone again.

"_If only that brat knew that __**I'm**__ in this forest and following them_," a figure thought, the same figure that had just been unleashed a few hours before by the same fox. "_After I learn about what you're going to do with that generator and where your hideout is, I'll have to repay you for releasing me, by taking your life!_" The figure sneered, and continued to follow the pair through the dense vegetation.

Arriving at the cave, the two sat down to rest. Blaze, with use of her pyrokinetic abilities had lit a fire with a few bits of wood she had found on the way to the cave allowing them to warm up slightly as the night was rather cool. There was a long silence between the two as both were happy to just be resting for the time being. Finally, the silence was broken.

"Blaze, thank you for back there in the forest, that whole experience really scared me," Tails quietly said.

"Your welcome kid, your part of the resistance after all," Blaze replied.

"Blaze, can I, can I ask you a question? It's kind of, personal," he asked hesitantly. After the reassurance she gave to him back there, the last thing he wanted to do was make her mad by asking something that might be a touchy subject.

"Sure kid, go for it."

"Usually you seem to have this strict attitude about you as if the mission is the only thing that matters and when it isn't the current mission, it's the next one that matters the most." He hesitated for a few seconds, wondering if this was a good idea, before deciding that it was far too late to turn back now. "But back in the forest you showed another side to me, one you always hide, a side almost like a big sister, why do you hide that part of you?" he cautiously finished asking, not wanting to upset her.

"I guess it's, a little hard to explain," she replied.

She sighed before remembering back to when she was younger. "Silver has always been my friend since we were little, we'd play games together and do silly things, have a silly fight here and there and help each other master our powers, back then we were great friends, he'd be this naive hedgehog who was always a little hot-headed and I was like that caring big sister you mentioned and always looked after him," she said with a smile on her face.

"I guess being a little hot-headed is a trait of hedgehogs," Tails remarked, a weak smile on his face as well.

Blaze chuckled, "Yeah kid, it does seem that way doesn't it?" She paused, and thought about what she was going to say next.

"Back then we were happy together, but a lot of things in this world aren't meant to last," Blaze continued, closing her eyes.

"During one fight with an evil monster, I got sent far away from Silver, and was completely alone," she said with a hint of sadness in her voice and her smile now gone.

I was completely alone, and it was tough, I ended up having to learn discipline and how to shed my feelings to survive, and it continued for many years." She paused again, and her face that was smiling such a warm smile a little while ago, now echoed with pain.

"When I was finally reunited with Silver, I was happy, but we had both grown up and I couldn't seem to be that big sisterly figure so much anymore, I had just gotten used to not caring for others over the years we were separated and Silver...well he still is naive as ever but he got a lot stronger since we were little." She opened her eyes again and looked at Tails.

"That sisterly side of me, she's still in there and she's still driving some of my actions, but she really seems to emerge when I look at you, you really remind me of the old Silver and I can't help but act more like the old me, when I'm around you," she said, a sad look creeping onto her face.

"When I look at you, I can see the same loneliness that I used to have and I'm drawn to it, I know it's been hard for you with Sonic now so isolated compared to what he was like before, but I want you to know that I'm here for you Tails so you don't have to feel that loneliness okay?" she finished, the warm smile now resting on her face again.

"I'm glad I've got a big sister like you Blaze, thank you," Tails replied, with a big smile on his face as well.

"Alright, well your big sister says you need to get some sleep, we'll head out again in the morning," she replied. With an end to their conversation, Tails fell asleep quickly, exhausted from the long day and late night.

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Waking up early, Tails opened his eyes and looked around. Blaze appeared to be sleeping so Tails decided he'd get up and take another look at the Nexus generator. He opened the box quietly in hopes not to disturb Blaze and took a good look at the Nexus generator. It still seemed to be doing nothing out of the ordinary. "I wish I could pull this apart and see how it works, it's of great interest to me," he said quietly to himself.

"Well you can't because we need it for our hideout remember?" Blaze said, suddenly standing behind Tails.

"Waaaah!? Blaze, your, awake?" Tails stammered, and looked over his shoulder to see Blaze with her normal 'poker face' on.

"Of course, I am a cat after all, my cat naps can easily be disturbed by the slightest things, that's what makes me a great sentry," she replied proudly with a barely noticeable smile. "I can sleep but still listen of anything strange at the same time, anyway enough of that, it's about time we get going."

"Okay, Blaze!" Tails replied, that enthusiasm back in his voice once again.

As they walked out of the cave and headed back towards the hideout, faster now that they didn't have to worry so much since it was a lot easier to see and move, the figure rose from its slumber and began to give chase. Already close to the hideout, Blaze and Tails were well passed the shield when Tails suddenly paused.

"What's wrong Tails?" Blaze asked when she noticed he had stopped.

"I think I might just be tired, but I think something might be wrong, let me just check," he replied, pulling out a little screen from his two tails.

"_I can't believe that, those two tails of his seem to be able to hold a Chaos Emeralds and other items of similar size without anybody noticing and they also allow him to fly! He's good for sneaking things around but I wish I knew exactly how he did it, probably has some form of technology on his tails which allow him to store certain sized things easily,_" Blaze thought.

"I thought so!" Tails exclaimed, snapping Blaze from her thoughts.

"What's wrong Tails?" she asked hastily.

"The shield is down! We got to get back quickly before we get detected," replied Tails, sounding worried.

"Okay let's move, we don't have any time to lose." And suddenly, the pair sped off, unknowingly leading the figure to the hideout.

It didn't take long to get to the hideout now that the pair were considered to be in their 'own backyard' at this point. As the entrance finally came into view, they could see Knuckles standing outside.

"Did you get what we need!?" shouted out Knuckles.

"Yes, we've got just the thing and the shield will be back up in a few minutes!" Tails yelled back, as he sped passed Knuckles who began following him along with Blaze, right into the hideout and the network of tunnels with the unknown figure following even further behind.

Racing through the network of tunnels, Tails finally reached the power station. Pulling out the Nexus generator, he began to quickly stick some cords onto the generator. "_This will have to do until I can build a proper interface, I would have liked to run more tests on the generator though but we just don't have the time!_" Tails thought. Hesitantly he reactivated the power and the generator began to pulse blue, fluctuating, giving enough power to the shield, and then too much! The shield began to affect equipment, overloading some of it, despite it supposedly being impossible. As the figure hid behind one of the forks in the cave, looking onwards with interest, something weird started to happen. A weird static feeling was emitted from within the figure's head, then a strong stabbing pain took it's place, growing stronger and stronger. Finally the generator returned to normal, with the blue orb floating in the middle. The figure fell over and didn't move.

"Okay, the shield is up again, although it looks like I might need to fix some more things now," said Tails, who then sighed. "First thing's first though, I could use something to eat."

"And I could use a bit more sleep," added Blaze.

"Well I've got to double check the area and make sure we haven't been discovered," replied Knuckles.

As they started to walk away from the power station, they could see an orange figure up ahead. Curious, as well as concerned, they ran up to the figure, and then stopped to take a good look.

"Well that was easier than I thought," commented Knuckles.

"This person must have followed us back," Blaze said, irritation in her voice from letting such a thing happen.

Tails knelt down beside the figure and lifted flipped the figure over. It was a girl, about the same age as Tails it seemed. She was orange and wore a dark green dress and seemed a bit shorter than Tails. She had ears similar to Tails and long fur as well as a very long tail coming from under her dress that easily would reach her head if not even higher. She also had shoes somewhat similar to Tails except her's were black.

"Is she a fox like Tails? They look rather similar apart from her fur being orange and wearing the dress, as well as the different colour shoes," Knuckles asked to nobody in particular.

"No, if I had to guess I'd say she's not quite the same as Tails, Tails is a fox but I'd say she's a wolf," Blaze replied, her keen eyes seeing the girl in great detail.

"Hey, hey are you okay there?" asked Tails.

She stirred, and opened her eyes.

"What's your name?" asked Tails.

"Keira," she replied. "That's all I remember, my name is Keira."

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_And so there is another chapter finished. Keira huh? That is our mysterious figure and it sounds like she doesn't remember anything apart from her name! Anyway, from now on updating might be more of a once every weekend type thing now, I'll have to see what happens. School is back in a about 36 hours and it's the dreaded year 12 with all the irritating final year work and tests to go with it. It's going to be so evil so I'll have less time for this. However I'll still try to update regularly, I am enjoying doing this, if not finding it a bit difficult with my lack of skill and experience. I hope for your sakes as well as mine that I'm improving though! Feel free to review too! It'll definitely make me feel like updating more I can assure you XD. Now, onwards to sleep! It's really really early in the morning._


	5. Chapter 5: Oasis

_**Chapter Five - Oasis  
**_

"We cannot allow this! She could be a spy or a weapon!" the rough voice of a man sitting in a circular room yelled out.

"It's far too dangerous to let any potential threat remain in the area, she needs to be dealt with accordingly and the longer we wait, the greater the risk," a young woman added, trying to remain quiet while laying under some old floorboards in hopes that she wouldn't be discovered.

"I understand s-she has lost her memories but this, is-is-isn't something we can take a chance on, it co-could be the end of the resistance as we know it," a timid little boy replied, hiding in a tree with a headset on acting as a proxy for his leader.

"We know it's a possibility that something may happen but we feel that it isn't right to end her life based on what she may or may not be! She could be a runaway from Metal Sonic's slave labour force which would make her a valuable source of information if she regains her memory," the bat replied before pausing for a few seconds to take a deep breath.

"We can't let a chance like this slip from our grasp based on risk, if we based all our actions on risk then we wouldn't be doing anything at all, this whole resistance is a risk but one worth pursuing, just like this one," the bat finished. "_This job is such a headache and I don't even get any jewels or other rewards out of it, I can't remember why I even took this job, all that occurs are arguments upon arguments over a computer network,_" Rouge thought to herself as she stood in a small room deep within the hideout.

She had been elected liasion to the council which represented various influential groups. There were many groups, but they were far too small and insignificant to be of any real help. Only three groups stood out from the rest. The 'Unified Defense and Retaliation Initative (UDRI)" which consisted of bits and pieces of the former major powers, the remnants of the old and secretive Aslos country who's small hidden utopia was ruined by Metal Sonic, and the Marclos mercenary group who's only interest in fighting the blue robot stemmed from the possibility of getting paid by whoever would fight back, or finding something worthwhile from attacking Metal Sonic's armies and bases. Only they had anything near the necessary size and cohesion to fight back against the enemy. When the resistance was first formed, they had _suggested _a council be formed as well to lead everyone in the liberation of the world and the destruction of Metal Sonic and it's army. In actuality they had demanded the council be created and that they each got a seat. Otherwise the resistance would not have their support. Through this a form of dictatorship had been formed and nothing could be done about it.

"This is different, if we are right about her then the resistance will take a serious blow or even possibly end, if we are wrong then the worst that happens is we must continue fighting how we have so far," the young woman countered.

"We're not exactly doing well by ourselves, this could be a lead to a serious blow against Metal Sonic!" Rouge yelled back.

"Perhaps but at least we're able to fight back! If the resistance falls then it's game over, Metal Sonic will fulfill his mission, killing Sonic, and then there's no telling what Metal Sonic will do," the man replied, obviously irritated.

"I believe we should let the girl live, she could prove to be a true asset to us and throwing that away would be ridiculously foolish," a sly and confident male voice interrupted.

"M-M-M-Mystery! Well this is an occa-casion!" the timid boy answered, thrown off guard by the arrival of the newcomer.

"You haven't been heard from personally since the Ark incident! Why reply now?" the man asked, a bit of his rough sounding voice replaced by intent curiosity.

"Well _former_ president Mitchell Ahern, this is far too good of an opportunity to let it go to waste so I thought I had better intervene and stop you from doing anything rash," replied the voice.

"Rash? The last suggestion of yours led to the Ark incident, that was rash, this is reasonable compared to that!" the woman responded.

"Ah, my dear princess Jade, I hear that you're losing more and more of your people to the patrols every day, as they slowly discover your escape routes and hiding locations, and the intelligence they're dying for hardly seems worth it, that must be hard to see," the male voice declared with a touch of sarcasm.

"It's 'Princess Shar' to you Mystery," she icily said.

"M-Mystery, my-my master would like to-" the timid boy began to say before being cut off.

"Silence boy, tell your master that he had better agree with me or he can forget the information I give him for supply raids," the voice interrupted, sounding somewhat annoyed that they couldn't do their own jobs.

"I won't agree with you! Even you Mystery, you may have helped us with high priority targets like the Ark but this could lead us to our peril!" Ahern shouted, getting things back on track.

"Of course, but it's as Rouge said, everything has a risk, and this risk is one worth taking, hnnee," Mystery replied. "If you continue in your plans to execute Kiera then I'm afraid my support may become unavailable in the future." The figure known as Mystery grinned. "_I've got them now, they need me too much for them to go against me,_".

"M-My master agrees, Mystery," the boy answered.

"I will reluctantly agree, Mystery," the princess replied.

"I don't like this at all, but it seems I have little choice, you have my support Mystery," Ahern agreed.

"Thank you good people of the council! I'm sure this decision won't disappoint you," Mystery happily said before logging off the computer network.

"Thank you council, I must now attend to other things," Rouge finally answered, ending her long silence. "See ya later boys!" she quickly added before terminating the connection and taking a deep breath and walking out of the small isolated room.

Rouge sighed. "_I think they like to argue more with each other than fight the enemy,_" she thought to herself as she continued down the corridor. "_Least I can have some fun with those stiffs, all I gotta do is just leave a comment like that last one every time and they'll get all flustered, such a laugh,_" she finished as she stopped at the open area connected to the corridor and looked at the view_. '_Hideout' wasn't quite the word to use as Rouge stopped and looked at the view. In front of her stood a vast underground city which held the majority of the world's remaining population, those that survived and escaped at least, which wasn't a lot.

About 42% of the world's population was wiped out in the first attacks by Metal Sonic as population centers and strategic points were hit first. 24% were taken out in the following weeks by patrols, 19% submitted to Metal Sonic's rule and were forced to be used as a labour force, 13% were scattered around, either fighting back in co-ordination with the resistance or living in Oasis, leaving the remaining 2% unaccounted for.

What was considered the hideout was really the area above the city which contained equipment used by the resistance to hide themselves and fight back. As more people were slowly brought back, it became clear that a place was needed for them, and thus the underground city was created. With major help from Knuckles, some engineers, a few Chaos Spears from Shadow, and a decent number of people, the area below the hideout was dug out and stabilized. From there, a massive lighting project was undertaken to illuminate everything, then the majority of buildings were carved out from the rocky walls. If more room was needed, it was simply a matter of digging some more out and putting some extra lighting around, or in some circumstances if there was enough materials around, creating a building in one of the open areas. Power originally had been a problem but after enough raids on some of Metal Sonic's remote outposts, there was enough power for the city to be self-sustained for the next 23 years. Although the city had no officially given name, most called it 'Oasis', a fitting name for a safe haven for all the people. Rouge stood there amazed. The city never ceased to be a wonder. The world was a dark place, yet these people didn't feel constant fear. They laughed, smiled, and had fun. The city buzzed, full of life! Protected by her and the others, as well as the shield and the land itself, they could be happy.

"So how did it go?" a concerned voice said from behind, snapping her out of the thoughts she was immersed in. She spun around and saw Tails standing there, worry displayed all over his face.

"They weren't happy with it, but she's allowed to stay," Rouge replied, calm as ever.

"That's great! I really thought that they wouldn't let her..." Tails said, getting very quiet at the end.

"Live? The council was leaning that way but they got convinced otherwise," she replied so calmly that she may as well have been talking about the weather.

"Wow Rouge, I'm impressed! To be able to convince the council is no small feat considering how stubborn they've always been," Tails exclaimed.

"It wasn't me who convinced them though, Mystery turned up and blackmailed them into submission, he was going to pull his support unless they agreed," she said back, sounding puzzled. "But you should still be impressed_, _this is one tough job and only someone as beautiful and smart as me could do it," she added proudly. There was an awkward pause and neither of them said or did anything.

"Um Rouge? Is something on your mind?" Tails asked, thinking about how she had sounded puzzled before.

Rouge turned back and looked out towards the city. "It's Mystery, he always seems to be a step ahead of everyone and gain all sorts of information that we don't even get remotely close to, I just can't work him out at all," she said, sounding like she was off in her own little world.

Tails paused and looked out towards the city for a few moments before turning back to Rouge. "Well it doesn't really matter! Although I'd like to know myself just how he does it, we should be just grateful that he's helping us and doing the right thing!" Tails replied with a big smile on his face.

Rouge turned back and looked at him. "I hope you right Tails," she said quietly.

"Well I'm off to go tell everyone the good news!" Tails yelled back as he flew off.

Rouge stood there staring at him, before turning back to the city and her thoughts.

As Tails reached the infirmary, he noticed that nothing was there, short of a bed that Keira was currently lying on, sleeping, and the two guards that had been stationed there to watch over her. As he approached the bed, as though sensing his presence, she awoke slowly, and sat up to greet him.

"Hello there, any news?" she asked, sounding slightly concerned.

"The council said that you can stay Kiera, and we'll do all we can to help you get your memory back," Tails replied.

"That's good, I wouldn't know what I could do if I got turned away."

Tails considered telling her how close the decision had been for the council to take her life, but decided that now was not the time. He knew however, that at some point, she'd need to know. With the way the council leaders were, it was always possible they'd try to take her life behind everyone's back.

"Since you're staying here I thought I'd show you around, if you'd like."

"Thank you, I'd like that that, um.."

"My name is Miles "Tails" Prower, but you can just call me Tails," he said, smiling at her.

"You've got a nice name Tails," she said, smiling back at him.

"Thank you, I think Kiera is a nice name too." He paused, he didn't know exactly why but there was something about what they both said that stuck in his thoughts slightly. A few seconds passed before he snapped out of it. "Well come on! Let's go!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her with him, past the guards who had heard the entire conversation and nodded to each other letting them through.

They ran, together, through corridors, up and down stairs, across catwalks, and out in the open green areas that had been created thanks to hydroponics. They saw different parts of the city, such as the different locations where food was produced and how it was produced, as well as some of the argriculture projects under way. They also saw how people lived and what they did, and some of the luxuries that had been recreated since the beginning of Metal Sonic's reign. One such luxury they stopped at after spending an hour around the city was one of the three only fast food shops in the city.

Money played a lesser role then it did in the old world, but it was an effective way to keep order and keep people working, as well as reward people for working harder than others, so money was still used by the people of Oasis but the economy was simplified compared to the complexity it reached when great cities still stood. Anything related to the resistance effort and that which benefited everyone was free, but getting enough chips and two milkshakes between Tails and Kiera, was not something that was free. After Tails paid, they both sat down near a waterfall that was flowing nearby. It supplied the city with fresh water as the waterfall led to a series of water veins that sat underground and connected to various locations above ground. It was located by a few of the engineers shortly after construction had begun and Knuckles had dug it out.

As they sat and ate, Tails thought about this girl sitting before him. "_Who could this pretty wolf be? How did she lose her memories, and what could I do to help her get them back? Could there be a way to get them back? If not, then what would we do? Would she stay here or move on by herself, alone and unable to defend herself?_" Tails asked himself, trying to figure it all out. Questions like this continued to flood Tails' mind as Kiera took another chip and ate it. He sat there, lost in thought, trying to figure something out. "_Maybe I could invent something that could help? But the mind is delicate, I wouldn't want to cause more harm, and what could I really do with a machine anyway? I can build robots and weapons among other things no problem, but what do I really know when it comes to medical devices?_" Tails started to lose the smile he had been wearing all day. Kiera out of the corner of her eye noticed this.

"What's wrong Tails?" she asked, concerned for the fox that had been so nice to her even though she didn't remember a thing.

Tails' head moved slowly back to her, and he let out the breath he had unknowingly been holding. "It's nothing, I was just thinking about what I could do to get your memory back," he paused for a few minutes, then lost a little more of his smile. "But I've come up empty so far," he finished.

Kiera stared at him for a few moments before replying. "That's okay, because as long as I've got friends like you around then I won't feel lonely or be afraid, and I know that I can be safe here with you until my memory begins to return." She smiled at him. "Don't stress about it so much, my memory will return with time, and I just have to wait for it to come back."

It was now Tails who stared, his smile returning after a few seconds. "Your right! I shouldn't worry too much about it because it will come back! I'm sure of it! I just wish I could help it come back faster, but in the mean time I'll be sure to take care of you."

He stopped and thought about what he was going to say next, it had been on his mind all day for some reason. "I don't know why...but I, I just feel drawn to you, connected to you somehow," he admitted to her, and felt his cheeks warm a little.

"I feel the same way Tails," she replied happily, a great warm smile on her face, cheek to cheek. The two looked in each others eyes, smiling.

Suddenly, Kiera started to feel a little funny. Her vision seemed to blur a little, and her head hurt. It felt as though it was thousands of small electrified pins were touching her brain, discharging, recharging and then discharging again. "Tails? I...feel...kinda...funny,' she struggled to say, before she fell back on the ground with a worried Tails in her eyes, opening and closing his mouth, trying to talk to her. She couldn't hear anything as she slowly closed her eyes, and passed out.

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_And here we are my sweets. The end of Chapter Five. I had some problems trying to write this, it took me the course of a few days to get it how I wanted it to be while all the others only took a few hours. That might be due to a lack of sleep (stupid bad dreams...) and school back in my face as much as ever. Yep, lots of talking in here too_, _very little action, and the birth of Oasis and Mystery! How will things in the next chapter go? No idea! I'm writing this as I go really, but I know that Kiera and Tails will be interacting a bit more, and things are going to start happening. Grab some popcorn and drinks and get ready for the next chapter! You might need a lot of popcorn and drinks though, you've got a week to wait heheh. And why don't you shoot me a review in the mean time?_


	6. Chapter 6: Ruins

**_Chapter Six - Ruins_**

It was a quiet day. She sat there, looking over the small town as everyone went about their day to day activities. Even though the town rested in the middle of a desert, it was still a nice place to live. Everything seemed perfect. So why did... something appear on the horizon. A giant shadow that slowly moved closer and closer, and got bigger and bigger till it blocked out the sun completely. Why was this shadow trying to consume her perfect world? Somebody was screaming loudly. Who was screaming? Was it... her?

Suddenly Kiera's eyes bolted open. Her head hurt and she felt completely drained. The first thing she noticed though was that she wasn't outside anymore and instead was laying on a bed and that she was in what seemed to be a house. Her vision was all blurry so it was hard to tell as she sat up slowly and looked around. As she did, a figure walked over to her. "Are you alright Kiera?" asked the figure. As her vision slowly regained focus, she noticed that it was Tails hovering over her with a concerned look on his face.

"Where am I?" she asked him.

"My house, it was a lot closer then the medical ward," he answered as he sat on the edge of the bed. After he said this, she looked around again taking in all the details. There was the single bed with a table next to it with a lamp on it. A lounge and another table sat near the other side of the house, although the table was much bigger compared to the bedside one as various electronic and machinery sat on it. There were bits of paper and books pushed up against the wall and there seemed to be another room which seemed to be a basic bathroom. There was a lone picture hanging up on the wall but she couldn't make out what it was. This wasn't much, but it was his home nonetheless.

Deciding she had laid down enough, Kiera started to get up. As she tried to, a new wave of dizziness hit her and she started to fall out of bed. Just as she was getting close to the floor, Tails caught her and lifted her back into bed.

"Just rest, the doctor said that he isn't sure why you passed out. It could be your memories attempting to return, but he thinks that rest will do you good." Kiera simply nodded, not wanting to nearly fall out of the bed again.

"You had me quite worried there, you suddenly started to sway a little and then you started to fall back. What happened?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, I just started to feel really dizzy and my head really hurt, like my head was getting hit with thousands of electrified pins or something," she answered.

Tails sat there, trying to work out what could have happened. Having absolutely no clue, he put it to the back of his mind and forced a smile before speaking.

"Do you want anything Kiera? I can easily get some food if your hungry or something to drink or anything else if you want."

Kiera just smiled at him. "He's such a nice guy, I can easily see he's worried about me, it's so rare to find people this nice," she thought to herself. Realizing that after a few seconds, she hadn't answered Tails who at this point was leaning closer to her making her blush slightly while Tails was growing a little bit more concerned over his guest, she quick gave her answer in the form of shaking her head. As Tails realized how close he was to her at that moment and was about to quickly pull away, a sudden beeping was heard. Instantly forgetting his current situation, Tails reached back to his tails and pulled out a small square looking gizmo. Curious as to what was going on, he pushed a button on the side. Kiera on the other hand, was curious about how Tails kept things in his tails without it falling off him. As it turned on, it became obvious that is was a little communication device as a little picture appeared on the screen and there was a static noise in the background. As the picture gained quality, Blaze's face appeared on the screen. Before he could even open his mouth, Blaze began to speak.

"You better get up here Tails, we've got trouble and you're needed."

"What? What's going on Blaze?" Tails asked, starting to feel worried about what trouble could mean.

"We're in danger. We just received some intel from a few Aslos lookouts. We've got incoming. A patrol, and if they continue in their current direction and at their current speed, they'll be here in 10 hours."

* * *

Outside, Sonic sat alone in, once again up against the same tree he always seemed to lie up against. It was a cool night at the moment with a quarter moon sitting in the sky. He was so restless. Thoughts of the resistance, the Ark Incident and Metal Sonic overwhelmed his mind. But most of all, thoughts of Amy and the life they had before were at the core of his thinking. It seemed so simple back then. Everybody would go on with their lives, and whenever a problem would arise, he was there to save the day along with his friends by his side. Even in the darkest of hours, everything seemed like it would be alright. Like always, they'd pull through. And if worst came the worst, the light and power of the Chaos Emeralds would always help give them the way to fix everything. Never once did he feel like they'd lose. But now it was different. Now there was no light to guide them. Now there was so little hope. Now he didn't have as many friends by his side.

Frustrated, he got up and began to run. Faster and faster, he ran, until he became nothing but a blue blur as a loud noise was heard. A sonic boom. Trees, rocks, creatures. All of it was easily avoided by the speedy frustrated hedgehog. The green landscape rapidly passed by before after a couple of minutes changing into one of sand and ruins as he kept running on. "Amy..." was the only thought in his mind now. "Amy, Amy...Amy...."

On the horizon began to appear something different from the random ruins. It appeared to be an entrance coming out of the sand, with the entrance itself seemingly created entirely of sand. As Sonic stopped in front of it, he observed the opening for a minute. Afterwards, he decided it would be better to simply turn around and head back when he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard a voice he was not expecting.

"If you run off, you'll lose something of value you know my dear Sonic."

Spinning on his heel quickly, Sonic turned around and his eyes widened as he stumbled back a few steps and fell onto his backside.

"I think that's the first time I've seen you ever fall over Sonic. Usually your so swift on your feet," the voice calmly said.

Sonic's mind was doing backflips, his mouth was hanging open, his eyes were extremely wide, and his left leg was actually shaking a little bit.

"Bu...wha...A-A...Amy! I-Is that-t really...you!?" he said weakly, in complete shock over the sight of seeing Amy standing there, perfectly fine.

"Last I checked Sonic!" she said as she stood there smiling.

"B-b-but h-h-ow?!" Sonic stammered. His mind simply couldn't stop going around in circles as it attempted to work out the sight before it. It wasn't getting anywhere though, Sonic's entire system was just in pure shock. Amy simply smiled at him as his shock was so obvious.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that, but what I can tell you is that you need to come in here with me."

She reached for his hand and pulled him up. Although his legs had recovered, his head still hadn't. Seeing this, Amy pushed his jaw up and closed his mouth and Sonic blinked a few times before finally recovering some of his senses. His mind was still in too much shock to argue as she held his hand and guided him inside. As they walked, Sonic's head finally started to recover and get back on track. Looking around, he noticed that the place was built from giant clay bricks that had torches running along the walls. Glancing to Amy, he couldn't see anything different about her. She looked exactly like the Amy he knew before the Ark incident. Her scent was the same, her hand felt the same, she looked the same, and sounded the same. So many questions were running through his head, but he didn't know which one to ask. There was just so much! Finally his mind settled what it wanted to ask as they turned a corner.

"Amy...what's going on? Why am I here? Why are you here? How are you here!?" Sonic said slowly. This whole sight was a lot more than he had expected when he started his run.

"As I said before, I can't answer that. However I can tell you that you're here to grab something that should help you in your fight," she said calmly, but with what sounded like a bit of determination.

"What do you mean?" he asked quietly.

"Long ago, when the Chaos Emeralds first appeared, an 8th Chaos Emerald appeared as well." She paused as she looked down past another corner, before starting to walk down it. "This Emerald was different though. While the others contained great power, this Emerald contained an even greater power. When the Echidna tribe originally found the Chaos Emeralds, they decided that this one was far too dangerous to be kept with the others and decided to seal it away."

"How is that different from the Master Emerald?" Sonic asked.

"The Master Emerald is meant to control the Chaos Emeralds. While it is able to produce power equal or even greater than the Chaos Emeralds on occasion, its main purpose is to bring order to the Chaos Emeralds, and nothing past that. This Emerald, the Great Chaos Emerald, however can't be controlled by the Master Emerald, or by anyone for that matter."

"Then if we can't control it, what's the point in getting it?"

"Because I believe that you have the ability to control it. You have shown the greatest control over the Chaos Emeralds in the past. Only you possess the ability to control it," she said before pausing for a few seconds. It sounded like air was being released from somewhere...

"Get down!" Amy shouted as she pushed Sonic to the ground as a series of metal poles extended from the walls and filled the space where both of them were just standing. Sonic looked over his shoulder to see if things were safe when he saw something. It was like a giant shadow slowly heading towards them. He quickly picked up Amy and ran for it. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't friendly. As he sped up, the shadow seemed to slowly pick up the speed as well. An intersection appeared up ahead of them as the shadow started to slowly gain on them, prompting Sonic to run faster.

"Which way!?" Sonic shouted as a loud, metal clanking sound was heard coming from all around them.

"Head right!" Amy shouted back when a bunch of blades started to fall from the roof and come out of the walls. Luckily, with Sonic's incredible speed, he was easily able to dodge them and then head right, only to nearly get hit by darts flying towards his head. Narrowly ducking under them, he continued to run as the shadow came around the corner and still pursued them. As they ran, a wall was slowly coming down from the roof off in the distance, threatening to leave them trapped if they didn't hurry.

As Sonic kept running with Amy in his arms, the shadow continued to gain on them, quicker then before. As Sonic ran, blocks started to pop up from the floor, nearly tripping Sonic. Sonic began to sweat as the wall reached the halfway mark and the shadow was only about three meters behind. "This is gonna be close!" he thought. Only a few meters from the wall they were when more bricks came up from the floor, actually tripping Sonic this time. As Amy and Sonic flew in mid air, he rolled around so his back would land on the floor and held Amy tightly above himself. "Come on! We can make it!" he screamed in his head as he landed on his back and began to skid across the cold bricks. He closed his eyes, he didn't dare look. The sound of the wall finally hitting the bricks was heard. He kept his eyes shut tight, just in case they didn't make it and were to be consumed by the shadow.

A couple of seconds passed, and neither of them moved. Sonic decided that now might be a good time to open his eyes. As he did, he noticed that his foot was only a few inches from where the wall was, and that the shadow seemed to be sealed on the other side. After seeing this, Sonic let out the breath that he didn't know he was holding and began to breath again. Amy, noticing this as she was up against Sonic's chest, decided that things were probably okay, and decided she'd open her eyes as well. She lifted her head a little and looked into Sonic's eyes. They laid there, his arms around her, neither of them wanting to break apart from one another. Amy was happy there, being in Sonic's arms, before noticing a bit of blood on the bricks.

"Sonic! Your hurt!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, but it's nothing, just my elbow, don't worry Amy," he replied.

She broke away from him and sat beside him and had a look. There was a deep long cut along his elbow. Deciding that he needed something, she stood up and ripped a bit of the side of her red dress and used it as a bandage, tying it tightly around his elbow. Sonic just watched as she did this. "Same old Amy..." he thought, which made him smile. It felt good, smiles had been such a rare thing for him after what had happened. As she finished, she smiled at him, and he smiled back. After a few seconds passed, he got up and they began walking once more. It didn't take long to reach a giant room where the Great Chaos Emerald sat in the middle upon a giant pedestal. As they both approached, Sonic could see the emerald in great detail. For the most part, it's shape was that of the other emeralds, but it was a little bigger. It also seemed to change colours. It would rotate between black, white, blue, green, and red. As they both stood there looking down at it, Sonic turned to look at Amy. She nodded to him as he picked the emerald up. After picking it up, a few seconds passed before the room began to shake and sand started to fall down from the roof. Sonic looked around and saw what was happening and then turned back to Amy.

"This is where I must say my goodbye Sonic. I wish I could come with you, but I can't," Amy spoke.

"But why?" Sonic asked, puzzled.

"I said it before, I can't answer, but know that I'll always be watching you Sonic..." she said, before a little smile appeared on her face, seemingly sad.

Sonic also had a sad smile on, but he didn't let the failing room stop him from saying what he now needed to say.

"Amy, I know that you chased me for years, and that I'd always run away from you. I know that at times it hurt you, and I'm sorry. I really am. To be perfectly honest... I was scared. I was scared about getting close to someone, to share myself completely with another person, of what could happen between us, and that's why I ran away. But that just made it worse. For years before the Ark Incident, I have felt this way about you, but I couldn't admit it to myself or you. But after I lost you, I regretted not saying it, so, much. I'm not going to let that mistake happen again. And that's why...right now, I can say this." Sonic took a deep breath, and looked into Amy's eyes, as they both ignored the room falling around them.

"Amy, I love you." Sonic said as the sad smile became a true happy smile, and tears nearly formed in his eyes from finally getting that one line out, something that seemed so impossibly hard to say all those years ago.

Amy stared at Sonic for a few seconds, before she too got a true smile on her face as she started to cry.

"I love you too Sonic," she replied as they both put their arms around one another, and kissed. A kiss so full of the love that had built up between them over the years, and seemed to last an eternity.

As a clay brick fell from the roof and landed beside them, Amy pulled away and looked at him.

"Go! Get out of here! Use Chaos Control!" she yelled as the roof began to completely cave in.

"What about you!?" he yelled back.

"I'll be fine! Go Sonic, go! And Sonic, I'll always love you!" she yelled to him, tears streaming down her face.

"I'll always love you too Amy!" he yelled back, shedding tears himself as he was once again leaving Amy, just as the entire roof was collapsing and threatened to bury him alive.

"Chaos...Control!"

A green light appeared, and consumed Sonic completely, leaving nothing but a collapsed ruin.

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_Well saying that took longer then I expected would be quite the understatement. I'm sorry this has taken so long! Really! I'm sorry! *puts on the puppy dog eyes* Can you foooorrrrrggggiiiivvveeeee mmmeeeeeeeeee plllleeeeeaaasssseeeee?_

_Anyway, real life kinda got in my way a lot. Got hit with a bunch of assignments and I had a writers block for the Tails/Kiera bit and Fallout 3 and other stuff kinda had my attention a bit. That's high school for you. Got my 'half yearly' exams coming up soon too, so I need to study a little for that. Also, get this, now I'm writing Metal of a Hedgehog, co-authoring TWO Naru fanfics with two different people seperately (Plazmachud and Twylyte) plus my one shots here and there._

_I can make up for being away though! I have a lemon below! Yes a lemon, a crazy lemon. A friend basically dared me one day to do it, and I'm not usually one to back down from challenges, so I accepted! He basically said who had to be in it, and that I had to write it. So yeah...below is that lemon, crazy...crazy lemon. I'll try and keep updating regularly but with everything going on, it might be slightly hard, but I'll do my best! And please, review! Like something I did? Tell me! Hated something? Type it up! Want to tell me something? Stick it in a review! I crave reviews, I love reviews, it fuels me to write more often and try to be more on time too. It doesn't always work though, but still, it helps!_

_Master Metallix - Thanks for the reviews so far. I can tell you now though, Kali is an OC. Not a half Emerl/G-Mel. You'll just have to wait and see to find out more about her. And really? Kali is a Philippines fighting style? I really didn't know that! When I came up with the name, I picked it because it ACTUALLY means black and destruction for other people. But wow, I wasn't aware of that, thanks for the random bit of trivia! I learned something, one point to you! lol. Also as far as Mystery goes, who knows about Mystery? I do! But you might be right, you might be wrong. I will say this though, you're just gonna have to wait and find out = P._

_**-Mmmmk Lemon Warning Time-**_

_**-Warning, the following is a lemon-**_

_**-A lemon is a sexual related piece of work-**_

_**-If you don't like it, don't read it-**_

_**-Stop scrolling right now if you know your gonna get offended or something-**_

_**-The last thing I want is you whining about how you got all offended or something DESPITE me warning you-**_

_**-For those brave enough to continue, it's time I turn possibly a few of you off as well-**_

_**-This is a lemon, that much is true-**_

_**-My friend basically set who HAD to be in the lemon (being part of a dare and all to a degree)-**_

_**-If the idea of a weird Metal Sonic lemon turns you off, then stop going down-**_

_**-Yes this is an odd lemonish Metal Sonic related lemon-**_

_**-Blame my friend, he darrreeeeddd meeeeee! lol-**_

_**-This is your last chance to turn tail and stop reading-**_

_**-Below is a short bizzare Metal Sonic lemon-**_

_**-It's REALLY short-**_

_**-It's rather bizzareish-**_

_**-It's got Metal Sonic-**_

_**-By continuing past this point, you accept all responsibility and you accept that you can no longer whine about me not warning you-**_

_**-Final Chance-**_

_**--  
**_

_**-Enjoy...or don't-**_

_**-Whatever = )-  
**_

Metal Sonic looked at the computer with it's red eyes and suddenly some form of Eggman's memory came forth to it's processor. Whatever it was, his CPU had decided to try it out with the computer. Moving forward to it, the computer's robotic voice played through the speaker system. "Master, what are you doing?".

"Hush my little computer, you shall be treated nicely as long as you do not resist." Metal replied, almost...warmly?

It's robotic hands reached out and began to rub the computer gently. "Your casing is so lovely," Metal said gently. The computer's "Senses Chip" began to operate and the computer let out a pleasurable sigh. Metal Sonic moved to it's front ports and began to rub the plug holes there, while sending slight electrical charges down.

"Oh Master..." the computer sighed, this sensation was slowly becoming quite incredible!

Metal Sonic's clawed hand transformed into multiple plugs that slowly eased into the computer and began to transmit data, slowly saving it to the computer's hard drive. As more and more bandwith became available as the computer stopped it's other functions, Metal Sonic began to transmit more and more data through it and began to give the entire computer electrical surges with it's other hand. Metal Sonic's own Senses Chip had been operating for quite some time but never on this level. Who knew robot's could feel such things! The massive amount of data being sent and recieved was overwhelming! Metal Sonic could no longer resist and began to max out his CPU's ability to send data, which coupled with the electricity surges began to overload the computer's motherboard and hard drive. Faster, faster, more, more! Metal Sonic completely maxed out and ended up running low on energy all of a sudden after sending practically all of it into the computer at once, something that was meant to be near impossible with it's reactor constantly generating energy, while the poor computer sat there. It was on borederine overload from the sheer amount of data being saved to it. The amount of energy that pulsed through it had just about completely destroyed the Senses Chip and had overloaded the computer entirely, forcing it into reboot.

As they both recovered. Metal Sonic computed the new experience, and decided, it was something he would like to do again. Firstly, it would need to upgrade the computer though.

"MT-05 and MT-09, upgrade this computer with the new prototype technology, at once!" Metal Sonic coldy said.

"At once, Master!" both robots replied over the system wide network.

Metal Sonic then walked off, knowing that soon, it and the computer would try this act again.


	7. Chapter 7: Enemies

_**Chapter Seven - Enemies**_

"Do you really expect us to believe such a story!?" asked Knuckles forcefully.

"I'm aware that it's hard to believe, but I'm telling the truth," Sonic shot back.

"That's impossible! How could such a story even be plausible?" Rouge replied, not wanting to hear crazy stories after the episode with the council. The headache she was currently suffering from was only getting worse with everything currently happening.

"I don't know, but the injury on my arm and the Great Chaos Emerald itself should easily prove my story true," Sonic answered, slowly getting more and more irritated by everyone's lack of faith in his story.

"We're well aware that Amy's passing has been extremely hard on you Sonic, but she's gone, and you need to accept that. There is no way she survived what happened to her on the Ark and the dead don't come back to life, what you must have seen was most likely a hallucination. The rest of your story _might_ have happened, but how can you possibly explain Amy appearing before you?" Blaze tossed in with a calm voice.

"I don't know how it happened, I just know she did," Sonic said.

Everyone was standing in the control room of the hideout. They had all gathered there to discuss the patrol that would arrive shortly when Sonic turned up and started telling everyone his story. Needless to say, they found it rather hard to believe that Sonic just _happened_ to find a tomb, encounter Amy, and then after navigating the tomb, find an 8th Chaos Emerald and use Chaos Control to escape the tomb after it began collapsing. Everyone was rather dumbfounded and stupefied at what Sonic had said as they thought it was some kind of incredibly bad joke until he had shown them the emerald. After each looking at it, Tails took it away so he could analyze the strange emerald and get some answers about it.

"Regardless of whether Sonic's story is true or not, we need to focus on the patrol. We can destroy them with some effort if required but Metal Sonic is going to want to know what happened to the patrol," Shadow interrupted.

"If we simply destroy them, Metal is going to send another patrol to investigate what happened. If we destroy the second patrol as well then more will come until eventually Metal figures out that this is our major base at which point he'll use the majority of his forces to overwhelm and annihilate us and the people below us. What we need to do is get them away from here somehow," Knuckles said as he studied over the map of the region that was in the middle of the control room.

"We can probably lure away the patrol easily enough, but we need it to be convincing. If we make it too obvious then Metal Sonic is just going to send another patrol here to check everything anyway," added Rouge.

"Even if you _do_ divert them away and destroy the patrol, Metal Sonic will send another patrol to check the surrounding area to see if any of us are still around," interrupted Silver. "What we need to do is set up a way to make it seem like we all die as well, in some explosion or something. If we're all gone then Metal won't have any reason to hang around after searching through the rubble of the explosion."

"There's an old mine not too far from here. If we bring the patrol there, fool them into believing our base is deep within the mine, let them slip in and then blow the mine up, Metal is going to think we're all dead and leave this place alone while he checks for wreckage, at least for now," said Blaze.

"You might all think I'm crazy at the moment, but you can trust me when I say that I know Metal Sonic better than all of you. Eggman first created Metal to fight me, based off my own data and partly my personality. Although Metal has undergone massive changes since it's creation to its current form, at the core of that machine is still a machine designed to complete its mission with absolute perfection. It will check this area even if our plan succeeded," the quiet Sonic now said, surprising those present that Sonic was now helping for once.

"Then we have no choice but to evacuate," said Shadow in his ever calm tone.

"Are you crazy? We can't evacuate everyone here to somewhere else without Metal spotting it eventually," interrupted Silver once more. "Besides, where would we take all the people? There would be nowhere for them to live and not enough time to set somewhere up!"

"Chaos Control," Sonic quietly said. Everyone turned to look at him, unsure of what he meant. Shadow however widened his eyes after several seconds and looked as though he thought the blue hedgehog had lost his mind.

"There's no way we'd have enough power to pull it off! Even with multiple sets of fake emeralds, we'd never be able to Chaos Control that big of an area. You know that it would take all seven Chaos Emeralds to do it. We've seen it with both the Ark and the Black Comet!"

"Or something with the power equal to the seven Chaos Emeralds," replied the blue hedgehog calmly.

"There's no way that one Chaos Emerald would contain that much power," the black hedgehog replied.

"I'm sure I can do it. When I used Chaos Control with it before, I could feel it's power flowing through me. With that power, I know I can do it."

Slowly, it dawned on everyone else what Sonic was suggesting.

"Let me get this straight. You want to Chaos Control everyone out of here?" asked a completely stunned Silver.

"Not just everyone, all of Oasis along with the hideout."

"You're crazy!" yelled Rouge.

"No, I think its possible," replied a new voice to the current talk. Everyone turned to see Tails entering the control room holding the Great Chaos Emerald. After walking over to Sonic and handing it back to him, Tails continued. "After analyzing this Chaos Emerald, I'm certain that it has the power Sonic says it does. With it, using Chaos Control to move all of Oasis and the hideout to another location is quite possible. The only problem lies in finding a location we can use and that is identical to this cave network's current layout."

"You're wrong Tails, with this Chaos Emerald, I can swap the two places at once," Sonic confidently said.

"Even I can't do that, it's impossible!" exclaimed Shadow.

"This Emerald is different, I know this will work. Trust me."

Everyone looked at each other, exchanging glances. The risk was great. So much could go wrong. But after a minute, it was obvious. Not trying was an even greater risk, and there were no other options.

"We trust you Sonic," Knuckles said as he looked right into Sonic's eyes. Sonic nodded, and closed his eyes for a few moments.

"Thank you. Now, let's put this plan into action."

And with that command from Sonic, everyone began to prepare.

* * *

"Okay, so let's go over the plan again, just so we're clear," a female voice sounded over the radio, belonging to Ar'karsha, an Aslos spy Princess Shar had sent to help '_oversee_' the operation.

In truth Ar'karsha was only there to make sure that the council could say that they had taken part in the operation, and also so that they had something to complain about later. The council had gone ballistic upon hearing the news and the plan to go with it and had demanded new leadership be sent to take over operations effective immediately from the hideout's control room. Unluckily for them, Rouge's headache finally made her snap. After her complete verbal rampage that almost destroyed the speakers to everyone connected to the meeting, the council decided that it would be best to back off for now and come back to it another time. At this point Rouge yelled so loudly that there would not be "another time", that the speakers did break, and Rouge left the room in a huff.

Sighing, Tails pushed the button on his radio and began to go over this for the third time in an hour.

"Knuckles, Silver, Shadow, Blaze and I are to lure the patrol away from the area around Oasis by playing injured and creating a drawn out fight with the patrol. Meanwhile everyone else will wait in Oasis until we give the all clear to Sonic who will at that point, Chaos Control Oasis and the hideout to an old ore mine about 340km away from here while the ore mine will be Chaos Controlled to here in place of Oasis. If Metal Sonic happens to check inside the mine, then it should appear that there is nothing out of the ordinary and Metal won't suspect a thing. Do you understand?" Tails finally finished.

"Do _not_ lecture me like a little kid. I am here because _your_ group screwed up and I am simply making sure that there are no more such problems. In a war such as this, we cannot afford it," Ar'karsha answered with her typical anger and self arrogance.

Sighing once again, Tails waited for news of the patrol's arrival and the beginning of the operation. Tails closed his eyes as he hid behind the bush he was near, ahead of the path the patrol was taking, ready to jump out at a moment's notice. His mind wandered. To the war, to the days of old, to his friends, and to his foes. So many had died since the beginning of it all. Life had changed so much. And yet, new meetings of people and the birth of friendships still occurred. Kiera was proof of this. In such a short time, she had become his friend.

Tails sat there contemplating it. The rate that they became friends hadn't happened since he first met Sonic all those years ago. He had watched Sonic for a little while, observing him, his attitude, and most of all, his plane the Tornado. When Tails saw that plane, he just couldn't keep his hands off it! When Sonic returned and Tails had explained how he upgraded the Tornado, Sonic told him that he could use a mechanic, and a friend. So from that day forward he and Sonic were friends.

It was the same with Kiera except it occurred even faster. "_And there's something else, there's some little feeling that I've got within me that's telling me that there is something more to my friendship with her. What could it be I wonder?_" he thought to himself when his radio came alive once more with Rouge's voice coming through.

"All teams, they've arrived. Let's begin the operation."

* * *

Meanwhile far off to the west stood Omega on the near pitch black grassy plain along with three platoons of UDRI soldiers and a few tanks. In front of them was a supply base belonging to Metal Sonic, a key position in the region that if taken would effectively mean Metal Sonic being driven away for the time being. Leading the three platoons were Sergeant James Shinder, a quiet but strong soldier. Lieutenant Elle Simmons, a bit of a loud girl but she knew tactics. Also finally there was Lt. Colonel Roger Bures, a serious but brave and intelligent man. Leading the tanks was Major Oliver Atkinson, considered a practical joker but known for his temper that was typically directed towards the enemy whenever they interrupted his sleep time. Head of the operation was Field Marshal River Noventa. She was known for her cold and calculating tactics that back before Metal Sonic's rise to power, would leave the enemy brutally crippled if not destroyed.

Standing together, Noventa gave the order to begin the operation. The two platoons led by Sergeant James Shinder and Lieutenant Elle Simmons moved to the left and right flanks of the base respectively as Major Oliver Atkinson's tank began to roll towards the entrance to the base with a 20 meter spread between tanks with Lt. Colonel Roger Bures' platoon moving up behind the tanks and using them as cover while attempting to spot any enemies. Strangely enough however, nothing showed itself.

"All forces, halt!" yelled Noventa into her radio, sensing a possible ambush. "Platoon leaders, do you see anything suspicious?"

"Negative," replied the calm Shinder.

"No Field Marshal," came the voice of Bures.

"Nothin here either boss lady!" came the ever so chilled out voice of Atkinson.

"We've got something here!" exclaimed Simmons.

"What do you see Lieutenant?" asked Noventa.

"We're seeing a completely ruined fence and the walls of the buildings over here are completely full of holes, but there's no debris. Its like someone decided it would be fun to shoot giant tanks shells out of the wall but then clean everything up without fixing the walls. It does appear that there is numerous electronic devices inside but we can't see without getting closer to have a look."

"Lieutenant, your orders are to advance into the base and check for anything else that seems out of the ordinary. Be cautious. This is Metal Sonic we're talking about here."

"Understood!" Simmons replied before turning back to her platoon.

"Blue Squad, you four are to check that small building over there that looks like it has a shed attached to it! Look for any signs of what might be going on here, I want it to take seven minutes, go!"

"Yes Lieutenant!" the four replied before falling out and moving to the building.

"Orange Squad, move to check that bigger building over on the far right that seems to have the most holes in it, check for debris fragments and signs of conflict as well as any pieces of tech that might seem out of the ordinary! You've got twelve minutes, go!"

"Yes Lieutenant!" the nine replied before heading off.

"Red Squad, secure the perimeter. If there's any signs of danger, radio immediately and we'll pull back. Its simply too dangerous to take any chances at the moment. Cover everyone while they retreat if required, but no heroic stunts. Tonight is not the time for them. Move out!"

"Yes Lieutenant!" the fourteen troops replied as they spread out in teams of two to cover the area.

"Green Squad, your with me, we're going to check out that hole leading underground just over there."

"Yes Lieutenant! We have your six," replied the leader of Green Squad before taking formation behind her as she led the way.

Back near the treeline at the south of the base stood Noventa and a few of her troops along with Omega.

"What could be going on? This is definitely outside of Metal Sonic's MO, typically he'd have robots in every single base he could use, so why not this one? And why is the base destroyed as it is on the east side?" Noventa asked herself out loud.

Omega turned and looked at her, computing the situation before coming up with a solution. "Field Marshal Noventa, I request that I visit the location Lieutenant Simmons talked about. I may be able to determine the situation," Omega said in the robotic voice Omega always used.

"No, I need you here just in case your abilities are required by the other platoons. Let Simmons and her platoon have a look. They are more than capable and will be able to perform their job as they were trained to."

"Understood Field Marshal Noventa," replied Omega before turning back to the base.

Meanwhile, Simmons and Green Squad found themselves in an underground lab that seemed to be directly under the building Orange Squad was investigating. This lab wasn't much better than that side of the base, it seemed completely devastated but once again there appeared to be no debris. As they checked through what was left, multiple diagrams and blueprints were found on pieces of paper.

"Lieutenant! We've got diagrams and blueprints for... _something_ or a bunch of things. It looks like Metal Sonic was up to something big!" called the leader of Green Squad. Studying the paper, the lieutenant grabbed her radio and held the talk button down.

"This is Lieutenant Simmons, squads, check in immediately," she barked into her radio.

"This is Orange Squad leader, we've found nothing up here. Only more destruction and no answers. The only thing worth noting is that on the other side of the building is a huge hole with the metal bending outside. It looks like something a bit bigger than a tank just rolled straight through the wall."

"This is Blue Squad leader, we've found some log files on an old computer detailing some experiments with something called 'Nano-NeoTitanium'. From the specs it's apparently an incredibly powerful metal that seems perfect for use in nanotechnology. As you know, nanotechnolgy is something nobody has managed to perfect yet. The use in organic organisms leaves far too much damage for any form of successful medical use at our stage currently. As far as it goes with it being in weapons, nanotechnology seems to be far too fragile to be an effective weapon for anything. It simply breaks down far too quickly. However this Nano-NeoTitanium might be the missing link in the process for both. It's both strong enough to take just about anything but at the same time can be used without any damaging side effects seen in organic tissue."

Simmons paused as she took in all the information. "_Metal Sonic would be rather interested in Nano-NeoTitanium but that robot has never really actively researched and created something extremely new. All Metal's current technology is derived from Eggman and bits and pieces of the world's technology as a whole. So why would it suddenly start to all of a sudden? Then there's use of paper. Metal has no use for paper when every single thing Metal deals with is stored digitally. So why paper? And why the abandoned base? Metal has always tried to arm every single base with at least some form of automated defenses. No, this sounds more like Eggman's doing. But isn't he meant to be dead? Killed by Metal? Could this just be an old experiment and our intel was simply wrong? This is raising far too many questions and not enough answers._"

"Here's another piece Lieutenant," the Green Squad leader said before handing it to Simmons. She examined it carefully and then paused for a minute, trying to work it all out. "_But why? Could this really be Eggman's doing? If so then why the investigation in Nano-NeoTitanium? What was he trying to achieve? Could it be... then that would mean-! Crap! We're all in danger!_"

"We need to pull out of here," Simmons said quietly to herself more than anything. Assuring herself it was for the best, she quickly grabbed her radio and started to give orders over it.

"Platoon! This is Simmons, we're pulling back this instant! All squads, grab anything you think is valuable and pull back immediately! I want us outside the base in three minutes, move!"

Noventa's voice boomed over the radio. "Simmons! This is Field Marshal Noventa speaking! Lieutenant, what in the blazes do you think you're doing!? I said to be cautious, not pull out for no reason!"

"This is Simmons, we've found some disturbing information that I believe warrants such action. At this point I can't explain it all, there's simply too much to explain. But I will say this much, this is _not_ Metal Sonic's base, this place belongs to Eggman!"

"Eggman!? But he's dead!" Noventa loudly replied.

"Field Marshal Noventa, please trust me. I'll explain it all later but right now, I need to get my men out of here before we all end up dead!" Simmons hastily replied as she ran to the underground entrance with Green Squad behind her. Then her radio came to life once more.

"This is Red Squad, we're ready to pull out once the other two squads are clear. We've got a little bit of movement up ahead though, we're going to check it out quickly."

"No! Red Squad, pull back immediately! You are in serious danger. Pull back now!" shouted Simmons over the radio, desperately hoping that she was wrong when the gunfire started. It echoed around them as Green Squad made their way up top once more. So much gunfire.

"Report Red Squad!" shouted Simmons once more.

"There's too many of them! We're being overwhelmed! Rachel, behind you!" yelled the Red Squad leader back as more gunfire could be heard.

"Hang on! We're coming to help!" Simmons responded hastily with worry.

The radio sounded again with gunfire and static mixed in with it. "No-no good! We... don't... leave now! I repeat, we're screwed, don't come-."

"Damn it! Their transmission was cut off! All squads, if you aren't out in 30 seconds, I'll make you run till your feet bleed!" she shouted as she ran out of the base with the rest of Green Squad... when they appeared. Dark, liquid like shadows that looked almost insect like, and extremely fast. It was too dark to make out anything else.

"Move! Move! Move!" is all Simmons could yell as the liquid shadows gained on them quickly.

"This is Orange Squad leader, we and Blue Squad are out, awaiting orders."

"Pull all platoons back, this is my order and quite possibly my last. Make sure that no reinforcements are sent or they'll die too."

"Understood!" the squad leaders responded before retreating as far away as possible, as quickly as possible.

Turning back to look, all Simmons could see were shadows gaining on her and her squad. She was about 50 meters ahead, but the last member of the squad screamed. He had been caught by the shadows, and all he could do was scream as he was _consumed_ by the darkness. Simmons kept running for all she was worth, as another member screamed, and another, and then another. Screams filled the air. Nothing but screams, until she was the only one left. And that's when it seemed hopeless. The shadows were already nipping at her heels.

"_Is this how I'm going to die?_" she asked herself. One shadow jumped, and she looked over her shoulder to see.

"_I'm done for. I guess this is the end, and I didn't even get to find a good guy. Damn it all._"

Thwack! That's when another figure hit the shadow all of a sudden. But this figure wasn't like the other shadows. This one was big, red, black with a bit of yellow.

"This is Noventa, Omega will hold them off. Get out of there now Simmons," Noventa said over the radio with her cold and calm voice.

"But what of Omega!?" yelled Simmons back.

"Omega will be fine, its important we find out what you know immediately, so you must survive," replied Noventa.

"I understand... Omega, thank you so much. You didn't have to save me, I'll never forget this."

Omega stood between Simmons and the shadows. Turning his head, he looked at Simmons. "You're welcome, and it was my choice. Now go while you still can," Omega said before turning back to the waiting shadows.

Simmons ran. It was all she could do was honour Omega's choice to save her. As she ran, she looked back and saw the brave robot walk into a sea of shadow, firing machine guns and rockets all the while as he was consumed by the shadow as well.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

_And there's chapter 7! Sorry for the wait, but between my half yearly exams, work, school, trying to get my car learner plate hours (need to drive 120 hours total before I can get on my P plates) and trying to get some time to just chill out, I just haven't had a lot of time to do this chapter. Fear not, for this shall never die! Well, only when it's finished and it will be finished, even if it takes some time to do. Still, it's up, and I've already started on the next chapter, but it still might take a bit to finish. Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Till next time._

Master Metallix - Yeah, the lemon definitely was an odd one but funny in it's own way. And yeah, Metal was definitely OoC, but in something like that, it's hard to have him not out of char. Maybe he only hates organic beings but loves machinery. He could revert to a simple chilled out robot for all we know when he isn't out blowing everything up! Just imagine a typical sitcom.  
Metal - "Honey I'm home!"  
Computer - "How was your day honey?"  
"Same as usual, you know, obliterating organic life and taking over the word is so tiring, all in an attempt to take out Sonic for good."  
"I know honey, but you could always just forget about it and stay with me and the electricity outlet."  
"No, I need to kill Sonic. I just won't feel fulfilled otherwise."  
"Awwww honey..."  
"I'm so desperate, there's a hole in my hard drive that needs to be filled with the data of Sonic's death."  
"Would you like some oil honey?"  
"That would be wonderful!"  
"Oh by the way, I'm pregnant!"  
"WWWWHHHHAAAAAATTTTT!?" *Metal's hard drive crashes*  
"He always was one to overact."

I could totally see that happening. _And I did check out Kali the fighting style. I recall seeing that in a few different places, and it's definitely cool to see. Glad I know the name now. And it's nice to know that someone went back and had a look about the whole Amy thing. Heheh, I won't say too much about it though, only that you might be right and you might also be very wrong. Only time will tell as I finish more of this huh?_


End file.
